The link between us
by One percent
Summary: Vash unexpectedly recieved a gift from a drunken guy: the new portative communicator that links people all around gunsmoke. The only problem is that the man does not remember giving him such an expensive item. Poor Vash will have to deal with the wrath of both authorities and his brother. But maybe, just maybe, that device can bring something good along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** This is my first real story. It's a bit AU as you will see, but it does respect the universe of Trigun and the personality of every character. At least, I try to stick to it. Now, on with the usual disclaimer.

**Disclaimer:** I'll just say this once. I do own knives, but not the kind I can take to my bed and hug in my sleep. I'm sad, but I'll eventually get over it. Btw, I do not own Trigun, anime be it or manga. There.

I hope that I'll get some feedback on it, even if it is a bad one. I feel quite self conscious about my writing, but would gladly continue if I know that at least one person is interested in it. :) All comments are appreciated!

* * *

**love&peace**

The bar was not as crowded as per usual that night. But it still smelled like a dog came and emptied its stomach under every table. The air conditioning was probably deficient and did not do anything to lift the smoke and refresh the place. The lighting was weak in order to give more intimacy to the drunkards with a lot of dark spots on the sides of the room. The fat waiter seemed to be bored and decided against cleaning the glasses preferring to eye suspiciously the one or two bodies that could be seen lying on the floor with a bit of vomit. Most of the customers looked like beggars, except for that spiky blonde head wearing an awfully long red coat and chatting animatedly with a black haired man who did not seem to care.

Vash sighed again in his drunken stupor. He dramatically showed another one of his scars to his drinking partner who had by now fainted on the table. "I got this scar when I tried to stop a bunch of youngsters from torturing a Thoma. Turned out the animal was fierce!" He grinned dumbly "You can still see the mark of its beak! Oh and this one, have a look!" He held his coat even higher earning a few strange glances his way. It was not uncommon for wasted people to act weird, but the sight of such a handsome blond in his mid twenties exhibiting a heavily scarred chest was new in this bar.

Vash, seeing that his company was drooling on the hand pillowed under his head rather than listening, whined "Hey man! You're missing on the best part! There was this sexy police woman! Oh you should have seen her cleavage!" The man popped an eye open and gave Vash the 'you lucky guy' look. The blonde did not need more encouragements to continue with his story "I was trying to convince those robbers at the bank that love and peace was the better option when the woman appeared! She was like the goddess of punishment clad in an outfit that hugged her every curve; those buttons of hers were going to pop up! Imagine her with a whip! That's something I'd trade peace for! I squealed in delight seeing her and ran toward her with my most charming smile to present my fabulous self, brag about my love of justice and earn a kiss" He mimicked the situation starry eyed and made his lips protrude "but she freaked out and shot me! Right here." He sighed and trailed his gloved finger over a spot under his ribcage.

His companion smirked at him "hehe, you're one unlucky guy aren't ya!" It seemed Vash's story time did not send him to bed, quite the contrary. "With a body like yours, you'll never get laid!" the man exploded with laugher and some people followed after him dumbly. Vash pouted. This man was disagreeable, why again was he telling him his life story?

"But I'll tell you a little secret! Something that will make your time easier with girls. Come here". The man suddenly gained a conspicuous look and motioned with his finger for Vash to get closer. Vash raised a brow, but then grinned and complied. This man was nice after all. Either that or alcohol clouded his judgement. But his instinct was telling him that something fabulous was going to happen, and that his life was going to get changed for the better, so he listened.

"My wife is a bitch."

"O-okay" said Vash sweatdropping.

"Don't interrupt me!" the man chastised "Anyway, you're different from her young fella… You have some damn hair on your head!" the man seemed to recollect some bad memories and growled. "Yeah, you're very different from her. Now get me a drink" His speech was heavily slurred. He took the bottle and showed Vash that it was quite empty to make his point.

Vash wondered for a second if it was worth buying this old man some more booze. Maybe he had no information to give him after all? He looked at the fellow and noticed that the man's hair formed a strange sticky figure on his head, his tanned skin was a bit dirty, he was smelly overall despite his once nice clothing and he seemed thirsty. A sense of compassion washed over Vash and he decided to indulge his companion with another glass. He ordered and saw the man swallow it down in one gulp. And then he burped violently. The blonde laughed awkwardly and waited for the secret to be revealed. And he waited some more looking as the man pat his belly.

Five minutes passed and still nothing "Um… didn't you forget something?" Vash said while rubbing the back of his head. He had to tread carefully. But he had experience dealing with moody hypersensitive people. His brother was a professional training all by himself.

The man seemed to snap out of his trance. He whispered "Oh yeah… I forgot my wallet."

An incredulous look met the words of the drunken guy.

"Oh Man, really?" Vash sighed and rubbed his face, he decided it was about time to leave.

* * *

**love&peace**

"How do I always end up in such situations?" Vash painfully moved his long legs and felt his muscles ache. He walked for a bit then went down a dark dirty alley while readjusting his charge on his left shoulder.

"I barely have 30 double dollars on me now, just enough for a few donuts in the morning" he said teary eyed. "How on Gunsmoke am I ever going to explain this to Knives?" a grunt erupted from his left and he readjusted the drunkard's hand over his shoulder again.

"Over there!" said the man and Vash followed almost falling when the man's legs got in his way. "Whoa, easy there". They left the alley and they found themselves in front of a big house. Vash contemplated surprised. Sure, he's not one to judge people by their looks, but this felt somehow off. The house was large and respectable; it was bigger than his, that was for sure. He looked at his companion suspiciously. Maybe his brain was too altered to tell where he lived.

The man freed himself from Vash's grasp and wobbled his way to the door. He rummaged through his pants' pockets and let a curse escape his lips. "Dammit, where are my keys?"

Vash sat up on the dirt and exhaled. "Are you even sure it's your house?" the man was not listening. Soon enough an "aha" was heard and the door opened. Vash suddenly got up and joined him.

The hall was filled with electronic devices sprawled on the floor and on every available table. He looked at the ground to avoid stepping on anything or getting his feet tangled in the cables. The man stepped in front of a door that automatically opened and led Vash clumsily through the dimly lit room.

"This is my haven," Said the man turning around himself and gesturing to the big screens and the complex items on the process of being built, "and this is what I wanted to show you" The man was ecstatic and tried to slur his words as little as he could, but did a bad job at it. He went to the farthest wall and showed a small grey computer with a blue screen. He patted the thing "this is my communicator!"

Vash went to it and realized that he'd seen that somewhere. "What does it do?" he asked.

"It co-mu-ni-ca-tes with the world!" he said proudly. "When the circuits are joined with an energy generator, the data are transmitted throughout Gunsmoke, so that every person who has this can have a chat with you." He got closer to Vash and exhaled his smally breath on his face. The blonde refrained from showing his discomfort, but he really wanted to puke right then and there. "you can talk with women with my invention, let them fall in love with you before seeing you, and only after that show them what a ugly scarred corpse you have!" he laughed at his own insult and got even closer. "There's even a pink line, hehe…" he leaned back immediately after this while puffing his chest. But his sudden movement made him lose balance and fall backwards.

Vash ignored him for a moment, and eyed the device closely. That's when it clicked. He saw that in the travelling ship that brought him on this planet along with the other humans. It was lost technology; this man might have found it in the remains of a ship and fixed it. "That's an impressive system you've got there. But I don't think people have this at home, it must cost a lot…"

The man on the floor laughed "it sure does! One hundred thousand double dollars for one of those babies. I know something about that!" He painfully got on his elbows "but I know for a fact that the huge companies are investing in them. A thousand of them are out there. You would certainly not mind a cute secretary, would ya?"

He winked at Vash who responded with a sheepish smile. "Well, I'm sorry, I don't have that much money, you know."

The man grinned. "No problem, no problem at all! Just take it. It's for your kindness!" he smirked at him. "Here, this is my business card." Vash could not believe his luck. He helped a poor, well actually, a rich drinker get home and here he won the equivalent of a thousand hundred double dollars! _'It must be Karma'_ he thought. Maybe his brother wouldn't throw a fit after he told him he drank the money of the rant after all. His smile widened after reading the card 'Vyl Reymond. Computer engineer, Vesta Corp. July city'. "Man, are you serious?" "Sure am! You just have to give me your name and address. Write them here. I love to take care of my customers!" Vash complied thinking that yes, after decades of misfortune, he has finally become lucky. He took the machine in his arms and waved Vyl goodbye. He wished he met such nice men more often really.

After exciting the house he noticed that the suns started to spread their burning rays across the expanse of sand and modernity. The wind began to blow, a presage of a storm to come. He hid the device under his coat to avoid the sand getting into its circuits and began humming his favourite tune direly. It must be around 5 am, the donut was due to open in one hour, just enough time for him to get back home and wash his tired limbs.

* * *

**love&peace**

Meryl strife felt like she was sleeping on the hard floor. Half her face has lost sensation and her hand tingled from its position under her head.

Her alarm clock rang. 6 am, the usual waking time, but its annoying sound felt weak this time, as if it were playing in another place. The small brunette did not hear it, and stirred a little in her uncomfortable sleep. After what seemed like a minute, Meryl groaned and raised her head. She opened her eyes and blinked twice. That scenery was very familiar. Her desk. Again…

She stretched her arms in a feline like gesture and noticed a paper stuck at her arm. She sighed while taking it off.

"I just slept in the middle of the work...how am I ever going to get it done before the deadline?" She yawned tiredly and got up. "Well, no time for me to complain, I'd better move on or I'll be late!" She gave a last glance at her desk, stacked with papers until her typewriter could barely be seen. The five cups of coffee she took all night long did nothing to prevent her from dozing off. She did not even want to see what she looked like right now. Her short hair was probably sticking in all directions and the bags under eyes could host a sandworm or two. She did not even change from her working outfit that had deep wrinkles at odd places.

Regaining her spirit, she made a beeline toward her small paper filled room to silence the alarm clock. That's when she realized that it was already 7:00 am. "Oh my God!" she panicked and headed immediately toward the bathroom. After making sure she looked human, she ran out hurriedly to her dresser, slid into new clothes, and began arranging the papers she needed for her day's work while trying to compose herself. Her arms were filled when she ran toward her front door; she halted just a moment and grabbed a piece of leftover bread into her mouth before starting her day. "I am so not going to be late!" she said while munching her breakfast. She narrowed her eyes before leaving.

* * *

**love&peace**

7:52 am. Meryl breathed heavily in front of the huge brown double doors of the Bernardelli insurance main office. Her hair was full of sand that the wind kept sending her way. The weather was definitely going to worsen. She hoped they would not be trapped inside the office like it happened last year. At least she had all her files arranged neatly by now and tried to get rid of the blush that tainted her cheeks from too much running. After two minutes, she went in with long strides, ignoring everybody in the hall and headed directly toward the office she shared with her co-workers of the Material damages department. She opened the door and said without looking at anybody "Milly, gather the documents about the bankin bank robbery case, we have to wrap it up before the representatives come for the meeting, ok?"

She put her bag on her desk and installed herself on her chair waiting for a reply. That never came. "Milly?"

She finally looked up from her paperwork and realized that only two people were in the office. No Milly anywhere.

"Hello to you too Miss workaholic." The woman who spoke was sitting on the other side of the room busy watching a strange machine with a blue screen. Meryl wondered briefly what it was and noticed one on her desk too that certainly wasn't there the day before. She decided to ask about it later. "Hi, Daisy, don't tell me Milly…"

"…Is late as usual, yes. I am sure the boss is going to give her cleaning chores again, if he doesn't fire her that is" She laughed and Meryl frowned. She wanted to point out that Milly and her were the only female workers who dared quit the city for investigation missions while she sat here polishing her nails. But she refrained remembering that she had more pressing matters to attend. 'Strange how people easily forget the good work you do to focus on that one mishap'. She refocused on her file biting her lower lip. 'If I show any weakness now, everyone in the office will hear of it, and any chances for promotions will go out the window.'

She began to scribble on her report folder adding the latest evidence she obtained from her contact at the sheriff post in Bankin city. The meeting was scheduled at 9:00 am. She might just make it.

* * *

**love&peace**

"Donut of peace?... No, no. Donut of forgiveness? Of brotherhood? Donut of mercy? Yeah, Donut of Mercy."

Vash couldn't help but feel a sense of dread wash over him. After his mind cleared a bit thanks to a cup of coffee and his favourite treat, he realized just in what mess he jumped. Head first. His brother was never going to forgive him, and he feared his wrath more than he feared a shortage of donuts. That's saying something. 'Too bad my brother is not as enthusiastic about them as I am. The donut of mercy could have had its chance' he thought. Deciding that it was a waste to loose such a refined dish, he swallowed it all and kept walking until his 'home' came into sight. He gulped remembering just now that he must catch the landlady before she got to his brother. Otherwise, there won't be any mercy for him. Ever.

He hurried and hesitated before opening the door. What would he tell his brother? He put his hand on the knob and shuddered. His brother could be violent. He knew it was always just beneath the surface with him. Or worse, his brother might make him feel like a worm for making that mistake. Just like he does most of the time. His grip tightened. Just like he did yesterday, belittling him for his ideology that led him to refuse giving him help. Maybe he should not have gone to the bar to forget, but it sure as hell made him feel better. He laughed a bit bitterly. 'I am behaving like an adolescent having his crisis.' He wondered sometimes if his life would not be better without his brother…

"Hello young man"

Vash jumped with a start at the sudden voice. He turned around to see his landlady. Her brown hair was kept in a gentle bun and some of it had started turning white. She held a basket between her hands covered with a black and red stripped napkin. She smiled at him and he returned the gesture.

"Hello Mrs. Thompson. How are you doing on this wonderfully sandy morning, eh?" he said trying to gain time before getting to the rent part.

"Fine, thank you. I thought you boys would appreciate a little home made lunch. I prepared way too much today!" she uncovered a part of the napkin and Vash's mouth watered. 'This woman is so wonderful' he thought with a huge grin.

"Wow, thank you so much! My brother and I are such bad cooks!"

He took it from her and cleared his throat "hum…well, do you need a feet massage?"

The woman raised her eyebrows.

"Or maybe I can … lend you the cat so that your grandchildren can have some fun?" he threw his arm behind him and brought up a black cat with a huge head and yellow eyes that was peacefully laying on the windowsill asking for nothing. It did not take it long to show its displeasure by clawing the obnoxious hand. Vash let it go with an "ouch" and looked apologetically at the woman in front of him. He kneeled on the dirt and pleaded "I am so sorry. I still don't have the money for the rent! Please, give me one more weak! Just one!" he looked up at her. She gave him a sorry look "I really like you, Vash dear, but my grandson John is ill. The rent is what's paying for his medication and there's almost none of it left. I am really sorry my boy, but I can't wait longer than three days".

He nodded "It's okay, I'll have it by then" she left and he fell so bad. His brother had all the rights to kill him.

How was he ever going to find money that quickly?

"Seems I'll have to sell the communicator after all…" he sighed. It could have been an awesome experience had he not been so air headed.

He turned around and saw the cat glare at him from its new spot. "Hey, sorry buddy" he looked through the basket and hold up a small piece of meat. "Here for you!" He put it in front of the moody cat then took hold of the knob and opened the door to the demon's den.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN**: I am back with the second installement of the story that should end the presentation of the main characters. Soon, the real fun will begin.

And now that I am mentioning FUN, I still don't know if you people had any reading last chapter. :( Well, I hope this one raises the level a bit more. Enjoy.

* * *

**love&peace**

8:20 am. Milly ran through the door of the department leaving a trail of sand in her wake. "Oh Ma'am, I am so sorry!" she went in front of Meryl's desk and bowed, her long brown hair falling around her. "My big sister's husband's cousin's daughter felt sick this morning, and I had to buy her medication before coming. I hampered your work, didn't I?" Her look was one of real worry and guilt and Meryl couldn't help but give her a smile. "It's alright Milly, we still have forty minutes to go before the meeting."

Milly calmed down a bit and held out a folder from her heavy brown bag for Meryl to see. "This is the result of my investigation of yesterday". Meryl took it and appreciated that Milly tried her best to not come empty handed.

Daisy got her eyes off her screen and eyed the duo "I am sorry to tell you this, but the meeting has been rescheduled. The boss is expecting you in his office in five minutes." She looked again at her screen leisurely as if she did not just throw a bomb. "And how would you know that?" Meryl exclaimed.

"The communicator, my dear" Came the nonchalant reply. "The what?" asked Meryl. As soon as the words left her mouth though, she realized that she had no time to waste on explanations. So, she hastily buried herself in her papers.

"She's talking about the new machines we have on our desks" answered the brown haired man who just entered the room. "They were installed yesterday evening when you two went on your evidence collecting mission" He took his desk and eyed Meryl with concern. Milly put a finger on her mouth "So, Ma'am and I are the only ones who don't know how to use them?" she asked with a pout. "Milly…" the tall woman refocused on her elder "Yes, ma'am?"

"Forget about the machine, I could use your help! Now!" Meryl ran a hand in her short black locks while her other hand continued typing frenetically 'Could this day get any worse?' she wondered bitterly as she tried to work twice as hard.

* * *

**love&peace**

Vash got out of the small shower into the narrow bathroom smelling faintly like honey and soap. He put on baggy dark brown pants and flanked a towel on his head as he looked at himself in a small mirror on the white sideboard. His hair was all down; he knew it would take him a bit of time to get it back to the spiky fashion he liked. Droplets of water fell from his mane on his exposed torso and drew funny patterns around his scars caressing every lean muscle they met. His life was carved on his chest forever reminding him of every life that was or could have been taken. His brother hated the sight of it.

His brother. He had not been home when he entered. He felt a bit relieved at that. He was not one to lie, and if asked about the rent, he would have to face the conversation that would inevitably come. He was going to make things right again and sell the device, he decided.

After properly dressing, he went out of the bathroom into the small living room that served as a kitchen and a dining room and stopped dead in his tracks.

There he was, in his regal glory, sitting leisurely at the table, back to the window. The two suns rays that dispersed from the haze gave his already perfect form an ethereal glow that made him almost look like a well crafted statue. Wide shoulders, sculpted muscles and a thin waiste. Knives met Vash's gaze with his cold light blue stare. Everything about his brother was cold, Vash noticed. His personality was cold; his features were cold: cropped hair the colour of sand, a chiselled aristocratic face, a pale complexion and a haughtiness that wrapped it all in one intimidating package. He was the exact opposite of his twin Vash who had the welcoming smile of his easy personality and warm features drawn in lively colours.

Hard blue irises confronted deep green ones.

"Hello dear brother" That was definitely a smile on Knives' face. "Did your nocturnal escapade help refresh your mind?" His tone was light. Vash smiled too "It did. But not in the way you hoped. I still don't want to live up to your scandalous expectations." He took a seat in front of his brother all smiles wiped out from their faces.

Vash mentally kicked himself. Was this the way to disarm the situation? Their peace was already hanging on a thin thread, and he had to blow it away. Bravo Vash.

Knives crossed his leather clad legs and took a piece of food from the basket in front of him. "So, Vash, your so called principles consist of exploiting the generosity of a woman to whom you broke your promise?" he took a bite and frowned "Disgusting".

Vash lowered his head. "It was a mistake, Knives. I will find a solution on my own."

"You seem to be making a lot of those 'mistakes', little brother. Yet, you still believe your preposterous outlook on life is relevant. You are so full of contradictions."

Vash scowled and looked his brother straight in the eye "To you, killing people is the definition of right? How could you even consider such a thing, let alone make a living out of it?" His voice rose at the end.

Knives raised an eyebrow at that "Vash, we already went through this conversation before. I merely expurgate the world of its vermin."

Vash grit his teeth "You think you're God? Who gives you the right to do that? To take a human's life!"

Vash tried to calm down. His brother was right on one thing: they already discussed this over and over again. And nothing ever changed. His brother seemed bored, still he answered "Yesterday, a horde of bandits attacked a farm on the outskirts of the city. They killed the wife, and cut the man's legs before raping his daughter in front of his eyes. Those beasts revelled in her screams and agony. Vash, she was only ten." He posed. "After they were done, they eviscerated the father, ransacked the place and let the child rot alone. You think that given the choice, I would spare them?" Knives rose from his seat and went to face his brother "You think we're both playing a game where we aim to be called God? You think I should treat those energumen better than they treat their victims?" Knives has lost his control and the face he was making was one of pure disgust "Vash, it's Kill or be killed! I'm doing the world a favour!" He withdrew "You ought to understand that."

A heavy silence fell between the two. Vash was facing away from his brother who was presenting him with his back. The tension between them was palpable. Yet, Vash couldn't let it end this way.

"There has to be another solution."

"There is not."

"But Knives, what if you were wrong? You can't give back the lives you took!"

Knives turned around "I _am_ right. And those I eradicated will never backslide."

"But what do you make of redemption? Don't you believe that people can change?"

"No."

"Why?" Vash was frustrated with his brother by now. How could someone be so presumptuous, so sure to be right without even trying to open up to other alternatives?

"Because you never changed, despite my best efforts to make you see reason."

Vash had had enough! He got up from his seat and grasped his brother shirt in his grip "You never changed too! Just because people don't follow your ideals does not make them wrong! You never tried to see things from my side!" Knives put his hand over his twin's and forced him to let it go. He then took the time to arrange the wrinkles on his shirt before replying sarcastically "Oh, you mean from that foolish woman's point of view, right? You never came up with your own values after all."

Vash fisted his hands and hissed "Don't bring her into this conversation, knives."

Knives smirked at that "Is that a threat, Vash? You're being childish. Besides, even as a kid, I could see the loopholes in her reasoning. Yet, she somehow managed to brain was-"

Knives suddenly found himself on the floor before even being able to complete his sentence. Pain registered on his cheek and a metallic taste filled his mouth. He sat down touching apprehensively the soft flesh that has taken the punch. His anger flared. "VASH! How dare you?" he roared. But his twin has already fled the house, taking with him both his coat and communicator.

* * *

**hatred&war**

Mrs Reymond, a woman in her mid forties, went down the stairs of the once immaculate house. She frowned seeing as the ground floor was still scattered with metallic pieces of machinery and devices. She tried to readjust the scarf over the balding spots in her hair and looked for her polecat skunk of a husband. She saw the laboratory door open and sighed dejectedly. 'So he is home after all. Gunsmoke must have turned green.' She thought bitterly. It was a wonder that man had a job at all. She knew for a fact that his employers were quite fed up with his demeanour and propensity toward alcohol consumption and other deeds she'd better not name. The only thing that saved him this time was the promise of a portative communicator device technology, if her memory served her right. 'Maybe he is working on it right now.'

She passed the door and stopped in her tracks. Her husband was sprawled amidst his machines –some of them seemed even broken were he was lying-, tangled in the cables with a bump on his head, a disgustingly wet face from too much saliva and a bit of traces of vomit. She went to the window and opened the curtains. A growl and some very crude words left the mouth of the man as he tried to get up. "Woman! Close those damn things or I'll make sure you…" he stopped mid sentence and she wondered if maybe he bit his tongue. She turned around and followed his gaze toward the empty iron desk on the far side of the room. "It has been stolen!" He was immediately on his feet seemingly forgetting his post drunken hangover. He looked around, messing up the place even more than before, looking under every metal cabinet, on top of every desk. He swayed a bit as he got to the main desk and leaned on it, his head between his hands. "It was stolen! My damn prototype was stolen!"

His wife went his way and put a soothing hand on his back. He slapped it away violently and barked "Piss off, woman! Can't you see the situation is disastrous?"

Yes, she could. If he made no money, how was she going to pay for her hair transplantation? He straightened himself and declared "I'm going to report it to the sheriff right now!" he showed his teeth and gritted them together making his wife shudder. The woman took a distance from her sorry excuse of a husband and decided to retire into her room. As she did so, she noticed a paper containing a name 'Vash Saverem' and an address written is extravagant handwriting lying on the floor. She decided it was of no importance and departed yelling a "You'd better get cleaned up first. Or else, they'll kick you out before you know it." To the man who was already making his way toward the exit. Decidedly, he'd never learn how to behave.

* * *

**love&peace**

"I can't believe how well it went!" Said Milly with excitement as she and Meryl both walked down the well furnished hall of the top floor.

"You mean it was almost a complete massacre, don't you?" Meryl was tapping her boots on the ground more fiercely than necessary. She was so not satisfied with herself. It was simply pure luck for them that the bandits have been captured with a good part of the booty that morning. "I've never felt so ashamed in my entire life!" Meryl declared while crumpling the report on her tightly clasped hands.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, ma'am. I'd say you managed very well."

Meryl knew she'd have no sleep tonight, and this time it won't be because of some additional work thrown to her at the last minute. She sighed in defeat as they got to their department space on the last floor. She was a perfectionist, a control freak; she was basically married to her job, for heaven's sake! Yet, she let this mission almost be a mess. She threw herself on her chair and slumped on the table.

"Do you want some coffee, ma'am? It'll cheer you up." Meryl looked up at the big girl who was on her way to the door. How did she manage to be so carefree? "That's nice of you Milly, no sugar please." She answered before putting her head back on the desk. She was lucky everyone was busy with meetings; otherwise, she'd explode at the first comment sent her way. She turned her head to the left and caught sight of the grey machine with the blue screen.

"So this is the communicator?" she wondered as she looked for a manual. The item had a keyboard, so maybe it was a typing machine? But she saw no slot to insert paper and the cables protruding from the machine were definitely not for decoration. She gave up finding anything to explain how it was used, and decided to just experiment by herself. After all, if Daisy was capable of operating it, it should not be all that complicated. She smiled at her own jab. Her co-worker was definitely rubbing on her. She clicked on the power button and waited.

The screen came to life. She could read the following 'Welcome to the Vesta communicator. ID: 09985126 Meryl Strife, age 22. Representative agent of the Bernardelli insurance society. September city."

A pop-up window appeared: 'You have 02 unread messages. To see them, click ENTER'.

She followed the instructions and noticed that the first one was from her boss, titled: New schedule, urgent. 8:22 am. She already knew its content. She sighed. Her boss was probably going to send her his rebuke through this thing then. She looked at the second message and stopped. "'I love you'? Who sent that?" she wondered aloud. She was the kind of woman men usually ignored. She was petite and not very well endowed, not to mention she had a bossy character and a very serious demeanour that pushed men away. Did she mention her derringers? She puffed her cheeks. It's not like she needed a man anyway, most of them were jerks, and idiots… and perverts! She eyed the message suspiciously. She should ignore it by principle, but Meryl Strife was curious, that was part of her job requirements, right? With this excuse in mind she clicked enter.

"Wanna have a good night baby? I know you want my big peni-" She gasped in shock and tried to exit the message without success. "How do I delete this thing?" she cried. The one who sent her that was so going to pay for it!

"I am back~!" Milly entered the room with one steaming cup in one hand and a pudding box in the other. Meryl jumped hastily in front of the screen of her computer to cover the contents. "Is something the matter, ma'am?" asked the tall woman as she raised her eyebrows. "No! What makes you think that?" She waved her hand in front of her face in an attempt to abort the conversation "There is only work on my mind! T-this reminds me, I should seriously start the –" She scanned her desk with her grey eyes "The report about… ethic and morals at work…" she finished lamely and forced a smile. Oh yes. Whoever that was, she would track him down and make him taste her wrath. She had an infamous temper after all. No one messes with Meryl Strife and gets away with it!

Now that she thought about it, she hoped it was not her boss who sent that anonymous crap…

* * *

**hatred&war**

"So how was this man of yours again?" Said the bony sheriff between two puffs of his cigarette. Vyl who sat on the other side of the desk cleared his throat again and tried to explain himself one more time "I don't remember him very well, but I know for a fact that he was HUGE! Like 7.6'! He can take gunshots without budging; his chest was a battlefield all by itself! And his eyes… the eyes of a murderer! He wore a coat that has been soaked red from all his killings! And he was blonde, but not your regular blonde, mind you! His hair stuck out like a hundred thorns!" The two huge ocular globes of the sheriff stared at him disbelievingly.

The well built deputy of the sheriff laughed with his gravel voice "Wow, you've got yourself such a monster! It's a wonder you survived!" Vyl agreed heartedly "I know, right?"

Both representatives of law exchanged a look before the sheriff leaned on his chair and spoke "Look buddy, it's obvious you were drunk. I am not hunting down such a ridiculous prey. If such a man existed in this city; he wouldn't have escaped my hawk eyes."

Vyl in all his fat glory got angry. But he had to remember that the two men wearing cowboy outfits in front of him were not his 'wives', they were the more power hungry people of the city. He had to be diplomatic if he wanted any results, and damn well he needed those and fast.

"Look gentlemen, I am an engineer at a fast rising company in July city. My latest communicator prototype was stolen, and I am willing to pay to get it back. 10,000 double dollars."

The sheriff let out a laugh that sounded vaguely like a Thoma being throttled and kicked in the genitals. Vyl was so surprised he forgot to be offended.

His deputy who was probably used by now to the creepy sound cleared his throat to get the attention of the engineer. "So, you want us to face your 'Monster man' for two pennies? We don't take well to jokes."

"You say that's two pennies you damn corrupt law agents of my ass!" Vyl mumbeled under his breath barely able to control his anger but too afraid to voice out his thoughts.

The deputy took out his gun, a .44 Magnum, at a light's speed and shoved it into Vyl's mouth. He unlocked the safety cash and leaned his left ear toward his target "Sorry, I didn't quite hear that last part."

"O-o-one hu-hu'dred thoushan' douffle dorrars."

"Now, that's a reasonable bounty, I'd say." Approved the sheriff.

Vyl's mouth was freed and he massaged his jaw. "I'll offer you two communicators if I can get my prototype back before the end of the month!"

The sheriff smirked and let out a big puff. The big saucers that served him as eyes took a mad glint.

"Consider your man as good as dead."


End file.
